Tabular data management systems are computer-based techniques for managing information in table formats. Such systems commonly organize information into one or more worksheets (also known as “spreadsheets” or “sheets”), with each worksheet including data in cells organized into a set of rows and a set of columns. Some tabular data management systems also provide additional interpretation of data stored in cells. One example of such a tabular data management system is Smartsheet, developed and provided by Smartsheet Inc. Smartsheet is an interactive, hosted computer environment for managing and sharing information in a tabular format, including information related to projects and tasks. Within a sheet in Smartsheet, a user can edit tabular data to define, assign, schedule, edit and comment on tasks; incorporate documents and emails related to the task into the tabular data; and request updates to the tabular data that represent updates to tasks from other users. Although the term ‘task’ is used herein, within Smartsheet the term refers to a concept broader than a work assignment per se. A sheet may reference, edit, and provide status information upon a variety of items related to a project or user—including without limitation lists, calendar items, documents, sequences of actions (as may be displayed in a Gantt chart), email items, notes and comments, discussions, notifications, organizational structure and visualizations; dependencies between and priorities on such items; and information about uses in the system, their interactions with each other, with projects, and with documents and other communications. Smartsheet is only one example of a tabular data management system, and though its described functionality can be seen as an example of the functionality of a tabular data management system, it should not be seen as limiting.
Email is frequently used to communicate updates to be stored in tabular data, such as providing status information, updating files (via links or attachments), and scheduling information for projects represented in tabular data. However, information appears ad hoc in an email, having only the context of the email thread (such as the body text, header, subject line, date, and addressing information) to associate it with a specific project or activity. Moreover, there are inefficiencies relating to the use of separate email and project management tools such as tabular data management systems to manage projects. Editing information in an email into a spreadsheet often requires either attaching the email to a cell in a sheet row, or cutting and pasting information from the email into the sheet manually, using a separate tabular data management user interface.
Therefore, it would be desirable to create systems and methods for managing tabular data and email that permit flexible, automated transfer of context (such as defined information about a task appearing in a project sheet), content (such as email text, schedule dates, and attachments) and/or status information (such as schedule changes, completion status, and respondent name) from email messages to sheets of tabular data, adapting to any sheet's project management database schema. It would also be desirable to provide an ability to create a tabular data editing form on the fly to match an existing column structure in a tabular data sheet, its data types and formatting, and to be able to use that form to edit tabular data without leaving an email client interface and without requiring manual creation of a form to match different column structures in different sheets. It would further be desirable to provide the ability to selectively copy and move data from an email message to selected columns within a tabular data sheet within a combined email and tabular data interface. Creating new tabular data rows and/or to update existing tasks represented as rows of tabular data, with data from an email message within an email client interface would also be desirable. The ability to search for sheets and documents within a tabular data management system directly within an email client interface would also provide technical benefits.